U.S. Says Religious Groups Have No Basis for Blocking Provisions

The Obama administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of the federal health-care law's contraception requirements, arguing that religiously affiliated nonprofits had no valid basis for seeking to block the provisions.

The administration's arguments, in a filing by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, came in response to a request by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who on New Year's Eve temporarily blocked...